11 Easy 3D Printed Sundials For You To Make

Ever thought about letting the sun do the work of telling the time? Here are the nicest free 3D printed sundial designs we could find.

You want a sundial for your garden or balcony? That’s actually an easy thing to get. You don’t have to buy one from a store – just 3D print it.

So, how does it work?

First, you chose a free design of your choice.

Next you 3D print the piece. If you don‘t own a 3D printer, you can have them 3D printed by a professional 3D printing service (to get the best price, please continue here). You also have to choose the right material. PLA filament prints can deform when standing to extreme heat, also it might change color when you expose it to intense sunlight. If you want longer lasting prints, we’d suggest you choose ABS or PET filament.

After printing, you have to get the alignment right. This is no easy task, but here’s a great instruction on how to do the setup.

How does it work? This 3D printed sundial really differs from the others. It doesn’t show what time by casting a shadow, it shows you the time like a digital watch would do! The shape has been designed mathematically to show the correct time. It displays time from 10:00 until 16:00 and updates every 20 minutes. do build it, you don‘t need much: You add an empty jam jar, three 20mm M6 flat head screws, one M6 flat head screw with the length of 50mm, four M6 nuts and four M6 washer with an outside diameter of <14mm.

How does it work? “This was just too obvious”, writes the designer. We couldn’t agree more. This Gnome could be found in any European garden, but in fact it’s a 3D printed sundial in the shape of a garden gnome. The hand of the clock is attached at his shaped cap which throws a shadow and the ground to show what time it is.

How does it work? This is a classic prop to be seen in the “Flintstone” cartoons. This archaic watch isn’t your normal timekeeper – it’s portable, as you attach it to your arm with velcro strips. In order to get the right time, need a compass to get the right bearing. Also, the exactness of the time depends on your location. As there are so many variables, you only can expect rough time estimates. Nice gimmick, though.

How does it work? This 3D printed sundial is a pretty regular model with an interesting design. You arrange the top to the south and then you can see what time it is when you follow the shadow. Down in the middle, it’ll show 12 o’clock. The stripes go to the left up from 1:00 to 5:00 and to the right down from 11:00 o’clock to 7:00 o’clock. The shell-inspired design also can hold a compass for aligning the 3D printed sundial.

How does it work? This small 3D printed sundial is calibrated to show time at all places on the latitude of 50.4 degrees. The closest city is Kamloops, Canada and also Brighton, Hove, Exeter, Plymouth in England; Maastricht, Brussels, Cologne, Kiev, Frankfurt am Main, Prague, Krakow … you can go even +_ 1 degree and include London, Cardiff, Calgary, Ghent, Antwerp, Luxembourg … check the link to find out the latitude of your city.

How does it work? This piece is a miniature replica of the well-known Tower Hill Dial in London, which was unveiled at August the 3rd in 1992 and designed by the architects John Chitty and Mike Duffie and the sculptor Edwin Russel.

How does it work? This one’s for makers. The 3D printed sundial is designed for the northern hemisphere (check your exact latitude and longitude here). After that, the second step is to find the right timezone you live in here. The third and last step is to use OpenSCAD to enter your data and make a custom piece. There are detailed instructions at this Thingiverse page.